The Morrigan is a battle deity. And whatever you believe about her metaphysical nature, her presence is not necessarily a good thing. We associate her with the fight for sovereignty, justice, human dignity, and freedom, but might she not have also been behind our national craze for retribution which followed 9/11? [Read more...]

I think it’s a mistake to assume the gods are benign. The word “worship” derives from the Old English word for “worthy”. I wonder then, why have I rarely seen the question asked whether the Pagan gods are worthy of worship. To put it another way, why should we assume the gods can be trusted? If the gods are paragons of virtue, are they not also paragons of vice? The polytheistic gods, as I understand them, are not necessarily good and they are not omni-benevolent. If the myths are to be believed on any level, the gods are just as flawed as human beings — they just have more power. Why bow down to power, if it is not paired with virtue? One answer perhaps is that the gods should be worshiped because they are — just as nature can be worshiped because it is. Nature is not moral or virtuous, but worship (or reverence) is a natural human response to it. But worshiping something and trusting it are two different things. I don’t ever assume that nature is benign or trustworthy. Why should we assume the gods are trustworthy? [Read more...]

All revelations are personal. That’s why all revelations are suspect. – Neil Gaiman, American Gods In my last post, I reviewed some of the recent controversy over the issue of so-called pop culture Paganism, and tried to make sense of the varying perspectives of those participating in the debate. I concluded that post by observing [Read More...]

Over at Patheos, in a post entitled, “another false divide”, deity-centric hard polytheist Aine makes a case that worship of the gods should benefit the worshiper as much as the worshipee. Believe it or not, this is something of a radical statement to make in the polytheistic community. Aine’s post is in response to the [Read More...]

P. Sufenas Virius Lupus has published another provocative post over at Queer I Stand, entitled “Seeing the Forest for the…Ents?!?” in which he denies that Paganism can accurately be described as “nature worship”. Specifically, he denies that Pagans worship natural phenomena, like the sun or trees, as contrasted with the “divine force” within or behind [Read More...]

You weary Nations, perhaps I am some new being you’ve never encountered before. Yet there is nothing about me you can’t recognize. I live in the place where you perceive nothing. Look again! – Geoff Bartley, “The Language of Stones” Recently, P. Sufenas Virius Lupus published an essay at Patheos entitled “Bringing Back the Gods”. [Read More...]